Italian for Beginners

Infobox Film
name = Italian for Beginners


image_size =
caption = DVD
director = Lone Scherfig
producer = Karen Bentzon
Gert Duve Skovlund
Peter Aalbæk Jensen
writer = Lone Scherfig
narrator =
starring = Anders W. Berthelsen
Anette Støvelbæk
Ann Eleonora Jørgensen
music = Niels W. Gade (Non-original)
cinematography = Jørgen Johansson
editing = Gerd Tjur
distributor =
released = 8 December, 2000
runtime = 118 min.
country = Denmark/Sweden
language = Danish/Italian/English
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website =
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0243862

"Italian for Beginners" ( _da. Italiensk for begyndere) is a 2000 Danish romantic comedy written and directed by Lone Scherfig. The film stars Anders W. Berthelsen, Lars Kaalund and Peter Gantzler. The film was made by the austere principles of the Dogme 95 movement, including the use of hand held video cameras and natural lighting, and is known as "Dogme XII". However, in contrast to most Dogme films which are harsh and serious in tone, "Italian for Beginners" is a light-hearted comedy. Made on a low budget of $600,000, the film ranks as the most profitable Scandinavian film in history. [Wise, Damon, [http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2003/oct/12/features.magazine "No Dane, No Gain"] , The Observer, October 12 2003] It has been suggested that Scherfig based her story on the Maeve Binchy novel, "Evening Class".Fact|date=July 2007

Plot

Three women and three men, all singles, with stressful or unhappy lives, register for an Italian course in a Danish village. The class serves as a way of bringing these various residents of the town, each of whom is dealing with loss or pain, out of their loneliness and into interactions with other people. When the teacher suffers a heart attack during class and ends up dying, the six classmates hold the class anyway and eventually take a vacation to Italy.

Cast

*Anders W. Berthelsen ... Andreas
*Anette Støvelbæk ... Olympia
*Ann Eleonora Jørgensen ... Karen
*Peter Gantzler ... Jørgen Mortensen
*Lars Kaalund ... Hal-Finn
*Sara Indrio Jensen ... Giulia
*Karen-Lise Mynster ... Kirsten, the real estate dealer
*Rikke Wölck ... Lise, the nurse
*Elsebeth Steentoft ... Kirketjener
*Bent Mejding ... Reverend Wredmann
*Lene Tiemroth ... Karen's Mother
*Claus Gerving ... Klaus Graversen
*Jesper Christensen ... Olympia's Father

Awards

The film won the Golden Spike Award for the best film of the year at the Seminci film festival in Valladolid, Spain, and the Audience Award at the Warsaw International Film Festival in Poland. Peter Gantzler won the award for Best Actor at the Seminci festival. The film also won the Gold Dolphin (Best Film) at the Festróia - Tróia International Film Festival in 2001.

References

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External links

* [http://movies2.nytimes.com/mem/movies/review.html?res=9C06E4DD123DF931A35753C1A9679C8B63 FILM FESTIVAL REVIEW; "Finding the Right Spark for a Guy With a Problem"] New York Times October 2, 2001
*imdb title|id=0243862|name=Italian for Beginners